It is well known that musculoskeletal tissues cultivated in vitro, due to their unique ability to respond to mechanical load, can be optimized and “trained” for their later in vivo use, e.g., as implant, by subjecting them, during their cultivation, to specific mechanical load patterns.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,882,929 there are disclosed several apparatuses and methods for subjecting a biopolymer tissue construct in vitro to selected forces, like e.g., to shear forces, frictional forces, torsional forces or compressive forces or combinations thereof, respectively. In order to do so, the tissue is mounted on a tissue carrier and is then mechanically stimulated by plunger type or roller type stimulating means. With the apparatuses having plunger type stimulating means, small tissue patches can be stimulated, while with those having roller type stimulating means, large tissue surfaces arranged at the inside of cylindrical tissue carriers can be stimulated. However, efficiently integrating the latter into an automated industrial production is almost impossible, since it is difficult to serve multiple of cylindrical tissue carriers with one stimulating apparatus and to safely mount tissue at these tissue carriers, in particular in case a plurality of individual tissue patches is concerned.